Chapter 6: Basic chemistry
"And if we rearrange this equation like this..." Barsley gave a yawn and leaned against the whiteboard, "Then we see that there are multiple possible solutions." the chalk in his hand gave a small squeak as he brought it down again, "So in this system, the actual solution will be determined by what boundary conditions we define to it." Barsley turned around to face the audience, a short murmur escaping the ponies as they noticed the black bags under his eyes, "Any questions?"
The professor was greeted with silence... and furious scribbling as the ponies took note, "No? Huh... that's good then, isn't it?" he sighed, "Again, don't hesitate to ask if there is something you do not understand. There aren't any stupid questions, just stupid answers." he paused, "How much longer till the end of class?"
"You still have a good fifteen minutes." Bluefire remarked with a smirk and watched Barsley's shoulders sag. Bluefire took a look at his notes, "Could you explain that part about general solutions to alternating potentials again?"
"You listened to that? Really?!" Barsley made a shocked face.
"Of course, why else would I be here?" Bluefire asked.
Barsley raised an eyebrow, "That's a new one... Back when in my days I usually spent class sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Bluefire made a bewildered face, "How did you learn anything then?"
"Midnight study one night before the exam?" Barsley replied with a small smile.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Wanna bet?" Barsley smirked, but quickly dropped the smirk when he saw Bluefire's disapproving face, "Alright, alright... Back to the board, I guess."
---
"A dab of scopolamine... some benzodiazepines..." Penceleigh shifted through her vials, "Ah, yes... that should do." she pulled out one of the vials and poured some of it into the glass. "Maybe some more just to be sure..." she paused, "Where did I put my sodium pentothal?"
"Professor Penceleigh?" Celestia carefully opened the doors and looked inside, "Are you there?"
Penceleigh's head appeared from behind countless flask, a set of huge goggles blinking at Celestia, "Oh, princess. What can I do for you?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow, "You... invited me for tea?"
The eyes behind the goggles blinked a couple of times in surprise before realization settled in on Penceleigh's features, "Yes! Of course! Please beg pardon for the mess, I was just finishing an experiment. Do come in, this will only take one more moment!"
Celestia nodded with a small smile, this was certainly a side of Penceleigh she had not seen before. It seemed she was just as devoted to her work as her colleagues. "May I ask, what it is you are preparing, professor Penceleigh?"
"Something very special..." Penceleigh chuckled, "Oh... do call me Abby, princess. It helps to shorten the introductions and I never was fond of titles."
"Only if you call me Celestia." she smiled as she walked inside, "I too, sometimes tire of titles."
"Girls among girls, then?" Penceleigh looked over her notes, searching through them like a child digging for treasure, "Could you pass me the amylobarbitone?"
Celestia looked around herself in wonder, the walls were packed with closets... and all of them were filled with different vials, envelopes and bottles containing different ingredients she could not even hope to decipher... not to mention that all of them were labeled in the human language. "I am afraid that I don't know what I should be looking for..."
"Third closet to the right, second shelf... the one with the white powder inside." Penceleigh absent-mindedly pointed a finger towards the shelf and continued to stir the contents of the glass as she heated them up over a small flame.
Celestia walked up the shelf and let her gaze travel over the contents, "I can't see it."
"No?" Penceleigh readjusted her goggles, "Try the closet next to it. I must have moved it yesterday."
"Yes, there it is." Celestia floated the small bottle to the professor, "So... what are you preparing?"
Penceleigh grabbed the bottle and looked up with a big grin, "A truth serum!"
---
The guard stationed outside professor Penceleigh's lab allowed a small smile to appear on his face as he heard his princess and the human female on the other side chat. He couldn't understand all of it, but the giggling and occasional laugh were a clear sign that the two were having a good time.
Which was good, the princess deserved all the good time she could get. All of the guards knew how strenuous her chores were and that even if she would never permit them to see it, her burdens weighed heavily on her shoulders.
His thoughts were interrupted as the door was opened from the inside... and princess Celestia poked her head out with a small smile, "Private Green Frolic?"
"Yes, my princess?" he asked after a nervous salute.
"Would you mind coming inside for a short moment?"
"Of course not, my princess." Frolic replied, even though unsure what situation would require his presence, "Is there anything you need assistance with?"
"No, no..." Celestia beckoned him inside, "We just thought you would like a cup of tea."
"Tea?" he seemed unsure, "But, princess... I mean technically I am on duty and..."
"It's quite alright, Green Frolic." she ushered him towards a small table, "Please, be seated."
Green Frolic tentatively sat down, wondering if he should be nervous or consider himself lucky.
"There you go!" professor Penceleigh sat down a cup of tea in front of him... with a strange color and an even stranger smell to it, "Drink up!"
"Aren't you going to have any?"
"Oh, no. We already had enough..." Penceleigh didn't take her eyes off him, "Come on, better drink before it gets cold!"
"Are you sure this is tea?" he eyed the liquid with worry, "It doesn't really..."
"Private."
Green Frolic looked up into the face of his ruler, "Yes, my princess?"
"Drink the tea."
He cringed, "Yes, my princess."
---
"This is incredible!" Celestia whispered to Penceleigh in wonder, "I didn't think it would work so quickly!"
Private Green Frolic was currently sitting at the table with a distant look in his eyes, the empty cup still standing in front of him, "My cat is called Shimmerbutton... My mother still sends me cookies, which I eat when nopony is looking... I sometimes peek on the mares when I don't think they're looking..."
"Potency seems good too." Penceleigh chuckled.
A small flush appeared on Celestia's cheeks, "Oh, my..."
"I wet my bed until I was twelve... In fifth class I told my teacher I had to go to my grandmother's funeral when really I just had forgotten my homework... I always carry a lucky sock with me..." his eyes dilated slightly, "Why do I have a sock?" he continued, "I can't whistle... and I think princess Celestia has the hottest..."
"Alright!" Celestia quickly held his mouth shut as her cheeks burned a crimson red, "I think that is enough for today..."
"I mean, you could play the drums on those beautiful..."
Celestia quickly replaced her hoof over his mouth, her blush still increasing as she pleaded with Penceleigh, "You wouldn't happen to have something that causes short-time memory loss too, would you?"
Penceleigh tried to suppress a snort of laughter, "I'll see what I can do. But let me get some notes first..."
"I have a poster of princess Celestia over my bed... and when I'm alone I..."
"Now, Abby!"
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I lost it there.
Abby is a creep.
lol Tia is sometime evil
Well, now we know for sure what the guards think of Celestia's ample, plump, wonderouos fl-
*ahem*
...
Uh.... .Flapperdoodles?
sometimes the truth hurts or is embarasing
3288343
MY FUCKING RIBS!!!!
There is such thing as too much information, and lets hope they apologize to the stallion
I lost everything at the truth serum scene
Aw damn it. I was hoping for a "Some of the guards believe that Princess Celestia is in a romantic relationship with Discord, her sister, Twilight Sparkle, the other element bearers. Spike. The changeling queen. Sombra. And Sunset Shimmer. But none of them know about each other." Or something along those lines as soon as I heard about the truth serum.
Oh well, what you had instead was just as funny.
I was about to comment on how horrendously illegal this all is but I don't care. This is hillarious.
This story seems interesting. I wish there were more "Scientist in Equestria" stories (or Engineers or similar..).
I'm just waiting for steampunk Iron Man to show up.
3288963
I am going to comment on how horrendously evil and unethical it all is. And I do care.
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with Celestia? She's abusing the trust of her guards, hell she's straight up abusing her guards period. Can you imagine if someone like the President of the United States did this to one of his secret service agents for shits and giggles?
Forcing someone to reveal all of their secrets by drugging their damn drink and forcing them to drink it is immensely fucked up. And then if I understand her correctly she plans to cover it up by wiping his memory of the incident. What in the actual fuck?
The guard should sue her and/or have her arrested, but good luck with that since she apparently is above the law, and even if she wasn't she is apparently going to wipe his memory of this.
I had quite a bit of respect for her as a character before this, but now it is pretty clear that she is a sick immature bitch. What she did is most certainly NOT okay and she doesn't even seem to feel any remorse for it. Goddamn it, I hope she pays dearly for this bullshit.
...in our world that would of been a war crime
I gotta agree with the last two guys: GnollReader, you fucked up. This is Comedic Sociopathy the likes of which I've only ever seen in Borderlands, and given that Equestria hardly shares ANYTHING of Pandora's setting, I say it does not fit here.
3289728>>3289762>>3290162 I can't really agree with all of those points. For one thing, keep in mind that this is a Celestia over eight hundred years younger than the one we know from the show (and hence a law system that is 800 years younger as well). We can't be sure which experiences she has yet to undergo to become the way we know her. Why wouldn't she be one for fun now and then?
Second, I don't understand why (in a time when everyone is basically posting every one of their thoughts on the internet) everyone is so appealed by the idea of someone under the influence of a truth drug... or was anyone offended by how high? or by jim carry? No. they laughed about it because it was a comedy, just as this story is supposed to be. Of course there are serious parts that contain a message but essentially it's supposed to be ridiculous and even downright wrong to a certain degree (crap scene from dumb and dumber... just as an example for off-the-scale-wrong-and-still-funny-as-hell)
Third, of course I am aware of the implications of this chapter. Of course I could have written it so that Penceleigh drugged him, he drank it by accident, etc. leaving Celestia innocent. I thought about it, but I didn't want it to be that way. I wanted there to be a different development of the relationship between the three.
So no, I don't think I went overboard, not by a long shot. If of course it is simply a personal opinion then I can totally accept that. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion... but just as that I am entitled to let the story develop how I see it fit. If some scenes simply offend you, then I am sorry but I won't go and change the chapter.
3289728
Hey another transhumanist!
*Transhumanist brohoof*
3289728
Heh, I see what you did there.
3290511 how do I keep mixing those up?!
3290753
I noticed one or two more things but forgot them - no worries, perfection is boring.
As to the truth serum, eh ... I can see it happening - depends on how close Celly is to her guards and what type of relationship they have. This looks like it want WAY too far into 'TMI' for Celly's taste and she's probably just as horrified at how well sodium thiopental works as the reader is meant to be. It's an assumption that the mind-wipe drug - propofol? - is for the guard ALONE. Celly will probably take it as well - it was a 'prank gone too far' if I read this right.
The human probably doesn't really care one way or another, though.
3288388 what do you think this>>>
emoticon (or whatever they are called) are for?
either i have an evil sense of humor, or everyone else is over reacting.
it's just fiction, and Gnoll can write his characters any way he likes, it's like complaining about characters being OOC in a fictional story.
seriously, that's be like complaining that Pinkie from 'Cupcakes' was OOC (which she was) and that's just pointless.
...don't get your panties in a wad.
3290324
Oh, I agree that she is one for a little fun now and then. I just disagree that what she just did can be defined as "a little fun".
Okay: Imagine that you go into work one day and your boss invites you into his office. You step in and yous boss asks you to sit down and offers you a drink. You find this a little strange but your boss insists and so, intimidated, you agree.
Unbeknownst to you your boss has spiked your drink and soon you are spilling your deepest darkest secrets to him against your will.
Is this harmless fun? Or is grounds for your boss being thrown in prison?
Hopefully you can understand why I find Celestia's actions upsetting, especially because she herself doesn't seem to feel any remorse for what she has done to her own loyal guard. Again, this isn't harmless pranking, this is full-blown Comedic Sociopathy.
3290924
The difference is that the entire premise of "Cupcakes" was that Pinkie was a psychotic murderer start to finish, that was the entire premise of the fic. This story had, until now, portrayed Celestia as a generally benevolent and well-meaning leader and the focus of the story was on the amusing-yet-harmless interactions between the humans and her and her ponies. Seeing her suddenly become a complete sociopath who drugs her own guards "for the lulz" and shows no remorse for doing so is incredibly jarring.
3290324 Yes you are and we are entitled to tell you that the joke was not funny to us. It was disturbing. Tat is on you man not us. You can write it as you want but that does not mean it will be interpreted that way.
Not bad. Could have been longer, really, but otherwise, not bad at all.
And not everyone studies the night before the exam. Some of us rely on subconscious information retention to take us all the way!
3289728
Can you imagine if the military tested new drugs and chemicals on their own troops? Oh, wait.
Because that's what they did. They just proved that truth serum works on Ponies. Laughing their asses off whilst doing it? Sure. But then, I imagine the scientists who wanted to see the effects of LSD on a platoon of British soldiers also found the whole experiment rather amusing. Just because an experiment is likely to cause, and does cause, a highly entertaining scenario, doesn't render the procedure any less scientifically valid.
Yes, it is an embarrassing thing to have let all that slip. But so long as neither Celestia nor the professor divulge the information, or use it against him, I see no problems here.
I understood that to mean she wanted to wipe _her_ memory of it. You know, the ever comedic Brain Bleach? Of course, if you were right, then yes, there is something wrong there.
3291007
And instantly, the flaws in your scenario becomes apparent. Firstly, by applying modern rule of law - as absolute ruler, anything Celestia does is, by definition, legal. After all, it is she who decides what is and is not legal, and it on her authority that laws are enforced, and wrongdoers punished. Even ignoring this, 800 years prior to modern Equestria, I doubt they had the exact same legal conventions we expect they do in modern times.
Secondly, applying civilian job standards. The military does things differently.
Thirdly - you forget the Guard is a Royal Bodyguard. Loyalty spotchecks are to be expected as a matter of course.
So, legally, this is fine, morally, it depends entirely on her reasoning behind doing it. As for funny? No one was hurt, people did embarassing things, and the instigator got their ironic come-uppance - what more do you want?
3291007
I agree with you there. For one thing, it's horrendously out of character for Celestia to abuse her guards like that. Not to mention that everything she heard from that unfortunate guard could be used to embarrass, humiliate or even blackmail him.
You have to question the mental stability of a character who would do something like that to someone, especially someone who trusts her implicitly, and is prepared to risk injury and/or death in order to protect her, however small the threat might be.
I think that it is not just totally, totally out of character, but that it is also (in my opinion) rather disturbing.
3291486
Without their knowledge or consent? Okay, yes, that almost certainly happened... And such a thing is rightfully considered to be horrible. People don't hear about such government abuses of its soldiers and citizens and go "oh, that's alright then", they go "that's horrible! How could something like that have been allowed to happen?". Furthermore, though they were still completely reprehensible and disgusting, such real life tests were at least done for better reasons than "I thought it would be amusing".
I'm not questioning the scientific validity of what they did (though it seems to me that they cared less for that and more for the fact that they thought it would be amusing). I'm arguing that that it was morally and ethically wrong. I'm arguing that it changed Celestia's characterization from "Slightly playful but overall benevolent leader who genuinely cares for her ponies" to "Self-centered immature bitch who sees nothing wrong with abusing her subordinates for her own amusement".
Well, if that is the case then I suppose that is a bit of a relief. And it allows the guard to press charges or at the very least spread word of Celestia's actions.
That doesn't make anything better, it just makes it all worse. That's basically taking the situation with the boss, except for the boss has enough money and influence to make the authorities look the other way or otherwise put himself above the law. That is something I'd expect from a corporate dystopia novel or the bad old days before workers had any rights, and even then I wouldn't expect it to be played for laughs. Also, I am reminded of a certain infamous quote:
I want Celestia to at least feel remorse for her actions. I want the guard to call her out on her despicable behavior, as she has abused his trust and his loyalty. I want her to feel horrified at her own actions once she takes the time to think about what she has done. Ideally, I want her put on trial and punished for what she has done.
You seem to be trying to convince me that what Celestia did wasn't despicable and morally reprehensible, but, well... I don't really see anything in your post that contradicts that. It seems that your point is "Celestia is supreme leader and can get away with anything without any consequences so it doesn't matter that her actions were horrific because nobody can do anything about it".
And that just makes everything worse.
3291517
Seconding all of this.
3291533
I'd like to point out that I wouldn't have as much of an objection to the aforementioned event if it had taken place in the context of a different story. For example, if this story had a "Dark" tag, I'd be expecting this sort of thing. It's just that in this story, it's horribly out-of-character and doesn't fit at all with the general theme.
3291558
Seconding this as well. I tried to make that point with the "Cupcakes" comparison but it seems I didn't do a good job communicating it. This Comedic Sociopath Celestia clashes with her earlier characterization and the feel of the story in general.
3290324
Just going to throw in my two cents here, but to me there's a fundamental difference between voluntarily divulging information and divulging information while under the effects of a truth serum in the same way there's a fundamental difference between having consensual sex and having sex while being under the influence of a date rape drug.
Mind you, I'm not saying divulging all your secrets is as bad as being raped, or vice versa, because that's a whole other can of worms which I don't wish to open. It was however, a perfect analogy to use in this case because in both situations the ability and/or will to resist has been lowered greatly, or even completely removed.
3291533
What? No, no. There would be no question of 'if' there was flagrant ethical malpractice there.
But the point is the Guard _does_ know there is something dodgy going on with the tea. He doesn't know what it is, or what it is supposed to _do_. But he does know that it isn't tea he's being told to drink.
It is his choice whether or not to actually drink the 'tea'. But if he doesn't drink it, he proves himself distrusting of the Crown, and as such, unfit for membership in the Royal Guard (or at least, the section of it that actually guards the royalty).
Except we don't know the reasoning behind carrying out this test, do we? Oh, certainly, there is an element of amusement behind it, but if this new chemical can force the secrets out of even a stoic Guard, then there are a number of applications for it that would be very useful for any government. Provided Celly was motivated at least for the most part by a desire for national advancement, then it makes for a responsible use of authority by her.
12 years dungeon. 7 years no trials..
Harsh taskmasters, beyond all means of legal recrimination, abusing their subordinates is a thing in comedy. Mayhaps it's just not your cup of tea.
Again, comparing a civil situation to a military one. It really doesn't work. Soldiers have always had less rights than their civilian counterparts. It used to be made up for with better pay, and various privileges. And I notice you then skip the rest of my argument.
Ah, but it is not so. A monarch must feel she can trust her bodyguard, and vice versa. This single demand has proven that he trusts her completely, and that she can trust him.It would only be an abuse of trust if actual harm were intended as a result (if, say the Guard had an allergic reaction and Celly just left him there, for example).
I apologise, I thought I had illustrated at least two reasons such an action was acceptable. Those being;
1. It shows that truth serum works on ponies even the most disciplined ponies known to exist. Government countermeasures now need to be drawn up, to ensure important ponies don't get dosed with it. Oh, and police/military interrogations will probably be a lot easier now, too.
2.It demonstrates the trust and loyalty of the Guard to Celestia. I can't really overstress just how important it is that she trust at least her personal guard.
I may be something of a Royalist. I guess it shows, huh?
3292173
And the Crown just proved themselves unworthy of that trust, and such, unfit to rule.
It might have been a responsible use if she felt that there was an actual need of such a drug (for example, a war going on) and if she had used volunteers instead of ordering/tricking one of her guards into getting drugged.
That character was SUPPOSED to be the bad guy. You're supposed to hate him for doing exactly what Celestia here is doing. Are you effectively saying that Celestia is no better than Lemongrab?
And now her bodyguard has learned that they CANNOT trust her.
That doesn't make what she did ethically or morally right, especially considering
1. She broke the trust of her loyal guards
2. As far as we can tell, she did this purely for her own amusement. She even intends to wipe her memory of it so she cannot develop countermeasures for it. The guard might be able to work on that, but again she already broke his trust in her.
3. There were ways to accomplish the same goals without resorting to tricking/abusing her own guards. Such as asking for volunteers and/or informing them exactly what she is intending to test on them.
She may hold the title of "Princess" but that is meaningless in and of itself. Being a royal doesn't make someone automatically right or worthy of respect, it is one's actions that determine that. I always liked Celestia in the show because she demonstrated that she was worthy of her power and the respect ponies had for her. This Celestia demonstrated quite clearly that she isn't. If she was truly deserving of the respect and power that she held, she wouldn't be abusing it. The Celestia of this fic simply isn't fit to rule.
EDIT: Question, would you agree with these statements?
3292269
Granted, if the Crown proved itself untrustworthy, it would be unfit to rule, however, you don't seem to have given me any reason to believe it _has_. There is no harm in testing the loyalty of the Guard, provided the test is not harmful. The Guard is unharmed, and whilst the advantages of this test may soon be erased by the Princess taking a mild amnesiac, that is something that was not anticipated at the outset. Even so, it does nothing more than reinstate the previous dynamic that the Princess had with that Guard.
Need of such drug? Let's assume there is no current need for the drug. If it works, preparations can be made for its use at a later date. Even if they don't choose to do that, if it works, they need to _know_, because then they can start devising countermeasures - to detect it, to neutralise it. A lack of current need does not imply that a ruler can afford to ignore a potential threat.
Really? I'll grant you, it was inflated far beyond anything remotely realistic, but therein lies the art of satire.
Ah - hang on. What do you think of the Machiavellian Prince, might I ask?
I consider that to be the ideal ruler, so if you hold to some other ideal, that may be where we are having difficulty.
Really? How so? Unless this incident directly relates to that guard being injured/retired/ harmed in some other way I can't think of right now, why would the Guard feel their trust had been betrayed?
I'm sorry, but I honestly cannot see how this incident, as decribed, violates anyone's trust. Given a few minor extra details it would, but without them... at worst, it _tests_ it.
I'm going to pass over 1), as I fail to see how a test of faith constitutes a breach of trust. As far as I can see, there is very little difference between this, and deliberately falling and being caught.
For 2), I beleive we have established that her motivation is entirely a realm of speculation, and without further evidence it is pointless to discuss either way. And why do you expect her to develop the countermeasures? This was an experiment sparked by a fortuitious alignment of resources, nothing more. Had the professor not already been in the process of making the truth serum, it is entirely probable the entire issue would have been farmed out to an R&D unit overseen by the Guard. Admittedly, unless Celestia takes precautions (say, writes herself a note before taking the amnesiac), that particular guard will be back at stage 1. But as we don't see the adminstering of the amnesiac, we don't know what happens there.
For 3, with the exception of testing her Guard's loyalty, I agree. Had it been a senior offical, someone who has presumably already proven their loyalty, then yes, this would simply be an abuse of power. But a member of the rank-and-file? Where the loyalty lies there is definitely questionable.
Wow. Your lack of faith is impressive. A mere two hundred years prior, Celestia banished her own sister to the moon because said sister threatened the nation. Some unspecified time before that, Celestia and her sister overthrew a tyrant who ruled the land according to his whims. For two hundred years since she last proved herself in battle, Celestia has ruled the land, and ruled it _well_ (or at least, competently. If she had'nt, she would have been replaced at some point). Any one of these individually should prove her worth quite handily. Together, they should earn her nigh-unshakeable faith from every single one of her subjects.
If we then require proof of unworthiness of similar magnitude, to justify doubting her, then on the scale, ordering a pony to drink a substance on faith barely measures at all.
(I will admit, there needs to be an upper bound on how much 'faith' she can accrue, because, as an immortal, she would otherwise break the system after enough time.)
3292693
You seem to be reading an entirely different story than I am. If you read my previous comments I make it quite clear just how what Celestia did was wrong and an abuse of her guards' trust. If you still are unable to see how what she did was wrong, then I just hope you aren't in a position of authority yourself.
Even if that WAS the reason she decided to drug one of her own guards instead of for her own amusement as it appears, again there are ways of doing so that don't involve abusing her guards' trust in her.
The whole point of Lemongrab's character is that he was a terrible ruler and a completely unlikeable person. Also, of course I don't think the Machiavellian Prince is the ideal ruler, "the book is, first and foremost, a satire, so that many of the things we find in it which are morally absurd, specious, and contradictory, are there quite deliberately in order to ridicule ... the very notion of tyrannical rule".
If you don't think your boss tricking/forcing you into drinking a truth serum and subsequently spilling your deepest darkest secrets to them against your will and without your consent is a betrayal of your trust, then again I can only hope that you aren't in a position of authority in real life.
First, I cannot understand how you could consider this to be a test of faith. Second. I cannot understand how you can't see this as a breach of trust. I am not sure what else I can say on that topic.
...What.
Her past actions do not excuse future ones. Yes, they have earned her faith from her subjects... Faith which she has just trampled on and proved herself unworthy of. They trusted her and she betrayed that trust. She may have done great things in the past, but that doesn't give her a license to do whatever the hell she wants.
And anyone that tries to use their past deeds to excuse any of their later actions is not worthy of any respect, no matter what their past actions might have been. If that were the case, people who donated enough to charity could get away with murder. If that were the case, Superman could just go kill someone for his own amusement and then when confronted point to his heroic deeds in the past as a reason why he shouldn't have to face the consequences of his actions. But that shit wouldn't fly, he'd be seen as a fallen hero at that point no matter how good his previous actions were. And of course Superman would never do such a horrible thing or believe that his previous actions would excuse him. He's a better person than that.
I though Celestia was a better person as well, but it looks like I was wrong.
3289728 Actually, i think the mind wipe was for her.
Actually, mind wipe might be too strong a term. The way i saw it, is her basically asking Abby for brain bleach as if she just saw the Twilight movies. After seeing those, pretty much everyone wants brain bleach.
Plus i think the guard is phased out, like he's knocked out and the only active thing in his brain is memory and vocal operations.
Princess Celestia is such a good ruler I can't believe how much of a good ruler she is don't you wish we could have a ruler as good as she is right here?
Oh wait, that's a video of a criminal who believes that just because someone is in charge means they can get away with anything, no matter how unethical, immoral, or downright illegal it may be. My bad.
NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW
oh god, that is so funny, he he he
, well Looks Cely learned that one shouldn't allways know the truth, he he he. great and funny Story so far, Keep going
I can't believe I missed this story, the character interactions between the human scientists are hilarious. I'm also going to say that I must have read a completely different story than the one everybody is whining about below. The truth serum part would have been tremendously unethical in the real world, however your audience seems to have gotten themselves far too worked up over a piece of lighthearted fanfiction. Is that the reason why you never revisited this story? Looking at the very healthy number of upvotes, I'd say that ignoring your critics would do you no harm whatsoever.
*slow clap to roaring applause* I can't even describe my laughter in a way mere mortals can understand by god please keep this up.
3290924 Dude... Pinkie WASN'T OOC, which is what makes Cupcakes all the more disturbing.
Party of One already shows that Pinkie has some form of bipolar-ism, and has self-esteem and abandonment issues.
And how can her friends abandon her if they'll forever sit in the basement? The "special cupcakes" are just more of an excuse to taxidermy her friends, and are a "happy side-effect". *shudders* She uses the cupcakes as a way to subconsciously block her guilt for killing.
Sure, that Pinkie is OOC in the fact that Canon!Pinkie wouldn't murder her friends, but even then, the characterization is still pretty darn close. Close enough to make me overlook that, while reading the story.
3290324
Yeah, it's your story, and all, but there really is no justifying the wrong turn things took. It doesn't advance the relationship in any positive direction.
Some of the comments overplay the wrongness a little bit, but only a little bit.
One change that would make it immensely better:
This story is great, shame it was canceled.
6186567 Simple. Manehatten. There's no way a mathematically illiterate society builds that. None. At all. Mathematical development of geometric and algebraic principles can be found in hieratic and cuneiform. Physical depictions of those properties predate written language. It is not possible for a society as advanced as Equestria to exist without mathematics. Period.
6186779 Ah, but this is 900 years pre-series, so Manehatten could very well only be a village of huts at this point. The only building we know existed at least that far back would be the Sister's castle in the Everfree Forest, and there are plenty of castles and fortresses built in the middle ages and earlier, well before the time of Newton and Leibniz, or even before the time of the Arabic mathematicians.
6341633 Trigonometry was known in Babylon. We have evidence of it in cuneiform.
Best chapter yet.
5728715 eh, i don't really agree, but i see how you could come to that conclusion, it's really a matter of opinion